Month: October 2011

New Delhi, October 04: In a time when Muslims as well as secular minded people are crying for justice in the police firing at Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, another incident of communal violence accompanied by police firing at Muslims has been reported on October 2 at Rudrapur town in Uttarakhand.

The death of four Muslims has been confirmed while several others are injured who are under treatment at hospitals. The town is still tense and curfew continues.

New Delhi, October 03: Stepping in to defuse the Telangana crisis, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday said he understands the separate statehood demand and gave an assurance that the Centre will make all efforts to find a solution to the contentious issue soon.

Meeting a delegation of Congress leaders from agitation-hit Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh, Singh also told them that he would talk to Congress President Sonia Gandhi in this regard and put all their demands before the party’s Core Committee.

New Delhi, October 03: The Congress Monday accused the Gujarat government of a ‘consistent pattern of vendetta’ against state officials who exposed the misdeeds of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi.

Referring to the recent arrest of senior police official Sanjiv Bhatt and the case filed against former police official R.B. Sreekumar, party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters: ‘Though the BJP often lectures on democracy, it practises democracy in reverse.’

New Delhi, October 03: The Defence Ministry has been hit by a fresh land scam with an in-house inquiry finding that about 70 “adhoc NoCs” were issued to private realtors flouting norms for defence land which included the Srinagar air base.

A CBI inquiry has been recommended by the Defence Ministry after it received the inquiry report submitted by its high-powered committee.

New Delhi, October 03: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday reiterated its demand to sack union Home Minister P. Chidambaram in the 2G spectrum scam, and sought to know the ‘points of differences’ between him and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

‘The government has agreed there are some differences between the finance minister and the home minister. The government should come out with the points of differences,’ senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi told reporters.

‘There is a clear case for dismissal of Chidambaram from the cabinet.’

New Delhi, October 03: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Monday slammed the central government for ‘having no qualms’ in jailing whistle blowers while doing ‘its utmost’ to protect the corrupt.

He said his former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni and two former party MPS who are in jail over the cash-for-vote scam had rendered ‘signal service to democracy’ as whistle blowers.

New Delhi, October 03: Socially backward candidates like Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes cannot be granted age relaxation in jobs if the statutory rules do not provide for such benefits, the Supreme Court has ruled.

A bench of justices JM Panchal and HL Gokhale said if rules do not allow age relaxation, courts are not empowered to give direction for relaxing it.

New Delhi, October 03: The Delhi Police on Monday registered an FIR against Janata Pary president Subramanian Swamy in connection with a newspaper article in which he suggested that that the voting rights of Indian Muslims be revoked.

The Crime Branch registered a case under Section 153A (spreading enmity between communities) of Indian Penal Code for his newspaper article in July this year, a senior police official said.

Earlier, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) had criticised Swamy for his article.

New Delhi, October 03: Insisting that the controversy over the Finance Ministry note on 2G spectrum issue with inferences against P Chidambaram is not over, BJP on Monday said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has bowed to wishes of the “head of the family” and asked him to clarify where he disagreed with it.

Joining issue with Law Minister Salman Kurshid on his comments that the March 25, 2011 note was merely an office memorandum, senior BJP leader and PAC Chairperson Murli Manohar Joshi today found several loopholes in his contention.

New Delhi, October 03: Stepping in to defuse the Telangana crisis, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said he understands the separate statehood demand and gave an assurance that the Centre will make all efforts to find a solution to the contentious issue soon. However, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said more

consultations were required before a decision could be taken on creating a separate state of Telangana.

Somalia, October 03: Six Somali soldiers have been killed after bitter clashes broke out between unidentified masked gunmen and the transitional government forces in Mogadishu, Press TV reports.

The Somali troops died on Monday after the armed men carried out a surprise attack on a military base of the transitional government troops in Mogadishu’s northern district of Karan.

An intense battle broke out in the aftermath of the attack with the two sides exchanging heavy gunfire and barrages of mortar shells.

Fifteen Somali soldiers sustained injuries as a result.

Chennai, October 03: The DMK party has offered support to the Congress, which is contesting the October 13 Indira Nagar bye-election in the Union Territory of Puducherry. The DMK would support the Congress candidate in the bye-election as decided by the party that the DMK-Congress alliance would continue for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections and bye-elections, a party press release here said. It called upon DMK cadres in the Union territory to work for the victory of the Congress candidate in the bypoll.

—-Agencies

New Delhi, October 03: The Delhi High Court issued notice to Delhi Police Monday while hearing applications for regular and interim bail of Rajya Sabha member and former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, an accused in the 2008 cash-for-votes scandal.

While issuing the notice, Justice Ajit Bharihoke directed Delhi Police to file the status report in the case within three days.

The court will hear Amar Singh’s pleas Oct 12.

Hyderabad, October 03: Pro-Telangana activists Monday forcibly stopped vehicles moving from coastal Andhra towards Hyderabad and hurled stones at private buses, damaging at least 20 of them in Nalgonda district, police said.

Some activists were injured when police hit them with batons at Nakrekal while one police official sustained critical injuries in stone pelting by the mobs. There were no reports of injuries to the passengers. Demanding separate statehood to Telangana, activists also damaged a police vehicle.

New Delhi, October 03: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani Monday said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government (UPA) is in an ‘unenviable mess’ of its ‘own making’.

‘I said (at the national executive of BJP) that in the country today, not only in the media but also among the people, opinion is unanimous that the UPA government is in an unenviable mess,’ he said in his latest blog.

New Delhi, October 03: With the movement for a separate Telangana intensifying, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday met a delegation of Congress MPs and legislators from the Andhra Pradesh region but did not give any assurance to them. He was later slated to meet Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

During the 30-minute meeting, the Congress delegation told the prime minister that the central government should announce a time-frame for arriving at a decision on the issue, an MP, who was in the delegation, told IANS.

Ghaziabad, October 03: A stamp paper vendor in Ghaziabad was Monday robbed of a bag containing Rs.5 lakh by two motorcycle-borne assailants, whom the victim chased and subsequently retrieved the money, police said.

Rajneesh Kumar, a vendor operating from tehsil compound in Ghaziabad Sadar, was attacked around 1 p.m. near Jain Temple in Kavi Nagar when he was on his way to the treasury to buy stamp papers.

After the assailants snatched the bag from him, Rajneesh Kumar followed them on his motorcycle.

Tehran October 03: Unknown gunmen have stormed a police headquarters compound in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, killing at least 13 policemen in the raid, Press TV reports.

Thirteen gunmen wearing military uniforms broke into the police station in al-Baghdadi town in Ramadi, 170 km northwest of the capital Baghdad, on Monday.

The gunmen took 15 senior officials and policemen hostage, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The incident took place during a meeting at the station with the presence of al-Baghdadi town’s mayor.

Amritsar, October 03: Punjab police unearthed a sex racket in a hotel in Amritsar. Police shocked many when it was reported that a school girl, who is a 12th standard student, has been arrested over the sex racket.

The police on Sunday, Oct 2 raided a hotel in Amritsar and arrested a couple claiming that the husband and wife were the mastermind behind the racket.

Another girl including the school girl and two hotel managers have also been arrested by the Amritsar police officials.

Tehran, October 03: President Ahmadinejad reiterated in a Sunday meeting with Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri in Tehran that rescuing Israel from an eminent fall is the main objective of the enemy. However, he noted, if the Israeli regime fails to emerge victorious, there is nothing the enemy can do in other parts of the world.

The Iranian president warned leaders of certain Arab countries to “remain vigilant and not be entangled in their [world powers] games,” adding that the US and its allies are losing their grip on the world, IRNA reported.

New Delhi, October 03: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ashok Argal was Monday made an accused in a second supplementary charge sheet Delhi Police filed in a court here in the 2008 cash-for-votes scam that rocked parliament during a trust vote.

“Special Judge Sangita Dhingra Sehgal took cognizance of the charge sheet and issued notice to Argal for Oct 14,” said senior public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan.

Police filed the charge sheet three days after getting permission from Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar for prosecuting Argal, an MP from Bhind in Madhya Pradesh.

Hyderabad, October 03: Leaders of the Telangana movement would be responsible for any crop damage due to electricity shortage, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy warned Monday, citing the ongoing general strike for a separate Telangana state.

The chief minister singled out Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) convenor M. Kodandaram for his attack.

“If crops are damaged, Kodandaram and KCR will be responsible,” he said, urging the people of Telangana to strongly oppose them.

Riyadh, October 03: Saudi newspaper showing a candidate in the current municipal elections riding a donkey on his way to vote has angered local authorities, who summoned the photographer for explanation. (SUPPLIED)

A photograph published in a major Saudi newspaper showing a candidate in the current municipal elections riding a donkey on his way to vote has angered local authorities, who summoned the photographer for explanation.